You all are the only ones who won't judge me for mourning a fish.
I bought Violet, a blue-bodied, red-finned spadetail from PetCo last week. She and the other girls have been in quarantine for as long as I've had them (1 week to as much as a month), and were about to be introduced to their finally-cycled tank today, but as my luck would have it she's got dropsy. I feel terrible about it because I didn't think anything of her pallid colors and slight bloat for the past few days; I just thought she was stressed about being constipated. But this morning I noticed her scales were pineconing, and now she's even going into fits, darting around upside down. What's worse, I don't have any clove oil to put her to sleep with. It breaks my heart knowing that if I'd been more attentive I could've cured her days ago instead of letting her suffer like this.
I'm sorry Violet, for ignoring your plight for so long. And I'm even more sorry you have to suffer till the end...maybe mama can dredge up enough courage and find a way to put you out of your pain. I know Ralph, baby Xiang, and Sake are waiting with open fins and paws under and over the Rainbow Bridge for you. I'll catch some fireflies and make your burial special. How ironic is it that on the anniversary of Ralph's death that his daylilies bloom and you join him?
I'm so, so sorry...